Q. Who was the
first native of the state of Washington to be inducted to the Hall of Fame?
Hint: His name and
nickname were very aristocratic.
Hint: His is the
first eventual Hall of Famer to hit a home run in his first major league at
bat.
Hint: His
impressive consecutive games-played streak ended due to a firecracker accident.
- First name Earl,
nickname “The Earl of Snohomish”.
- Last G of streak = 25-Jun-1935 @
673 G. During a July 1 incident in 1935,
Averill was lighting firecrackers with his four children as part of a pre-July
4 celebration. One exploded while he was
holding it, and he suffered lacerations on the fingers of his right hand, as
well as burns on his face and chest. He
made a full recovery and was back playing as of 14-Jul. His streak is still the longest in CLE
franchise history.
FCR - Kevin Mix,
Chicago
Incorrect guesses: Ron Santo
TUESDAY
Q. Whose
franchise record for RBI in a season did Manny Ramirez break?
Hint: Who was the
first player ever to steal home after the 15th inning.
Hint: He was the
first rookie to drive in 140 runs.
- Had 142 RBI in 1934. The current single-season rookie RBI record
holder is Ted Williams who knocked in 145 in his debut season 1939.
FCR - Steve Berman, Bergenfield, New Jersey
Incorrect guesses: Al Rosen, Ted Williams, Willie Davis, Vern
Stephens, Ryan Howard, Boston Red Sox, San Diego Padres, Fred Lynn,
Carl Yastrzemski, Walt Dropo, Albert Bell, Elmer Flick
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who won a batting title playing for two
different American League teams?
Hint: He found himself in the minors after the
following year in the farm system of yet a third team.
Hint: It was the first time the American League
batting champ came from a last place team.
Hint: His batting title was the only thing that
prevented a certain Hall of Famer from winning the Triple Crown.
- Won batting title in 1932 after being traded
from DET to BOS on 13-Jun. Those Sawks finished last in spite of he
efforts that year.
- After winning the RBI and HR titles in 1932,
AL MVP Jimmie Foxx hit .364, but Alexander had the title batting with .367 for
some reason (He didn’t have the requisite number of at-bat that would be
required today.)
FCR - Len Levin, Providence
Incorrect
guesses: George Kell, Nap Lajoie, Jimmie
Foxx, Billy Goodman, Stan Hack, Harry Walker, Vern Stephens, Alex
Johnson, Ted Williams
THURSDAY
Q. Whose record for home runs by a rookie
did Frank Robinson come within a single blast of breaking in 1956?
Hint: He (not Robinson) had the most career home
runs in the ballpark where he debuted.
Hint: He was the first player ever to ground into
a double play in the All-Star game.
- Robinson hit 38 HR to tie Berger’s 1930 total.
- 105 career HR at Braves Field in Boston, home to the Braves
from 1915 (following their miraculous WS win in 1914) to 1952 (the season after
which the team moved to Milwaukee.)
Berger played there 1930-37, but he then played there as the opposition
playing for 3 other NL teams.
FCR - Madison McEntire, Bryant, Arkansas
Incorrect
guesses: Ted Kluszewski, Mel Ott, Willie
Mays, Ernie Lombardi, Ted Williams, Walt Dropo
FRIDAY
Q. Who received the Legion of Merit medal
during World War II for creating baseball fields and leagues in North Africa?
Hint: His nickname is he shortened version of his
first nickname.
Hint: He played for both teams on different sides
of the same city.
- Bonura, a great high
school
track athlete (the Javelin, among others), was recruited by Knute Rockne for
football and track at Notre Dame. Legend has it that it was Rockne who spotted Bonura not wearing all his
gear one day and said, “Look at the physique on that guy”. “Physique” became “Zeke” and that stuck.
FCR - Dr. John Rickert, Terre Haute
Incorrect
guesses: Moe Berg, Napoleon Lajoie,
SATURDAY
Q. Who holds the Pittsburgh Pirates’ record
for most runs batted in during a single game?
Hint: In his rookie year, he finished sixth in
MVP voting, ahead of half of dozen future Hall of Fame inductees, but he didn’t
receive a single vote for Rookie of the Year.
Hint: He was traded for both Cobb and DiMaggio
during his career.
Hint: He was also the only player ever traded for
Morrie Arnovich.
- 9 RBI = 30-May-1939. 4 other Pirates have an 8-RBI in a game: Dave Robertson, Ralph Kiner, Jason Bay
(twice) and Andrew McCutchen.
- 1938 NL MVP vote. Rizzo finished ahead of Gabby Hartnett, Joe
Medwick, Johnny Mize, Leo Durocher, Al Lopez & Lloyd Waner. Got no ROY votes because the first year of
that award was 1947. Rizzo was a rookie
in 1938.
- On 13-Oct-1937, he was traded by STL to PIT for minor leaguer Bernard Cobb. (Additional players were involved in the
trade.) On 08-May-1940, he was traded by
PIT to CIN straight-up for Vince DiMaggio.
FCR - Barry Nelson, Guilderland, New York
Incorrect
guesses: Boots Grantham, Gus Suhr, Dick
Stuart, Lloyd Waner
SUNDAY
Q. What former Brooklyn player was the
first to hit more than 45 home runs in a season for his major league franchise?
Hint: He’s been selected as Player of the Week
four times—thrice in the minors and once in the majors.
Hint: In high school, he played lacrosse and
football before deciding to focus on baseball.
Hint: His grandfather went from a Monarch to Queens.
- After signing with NYY with the Mets he spent
2016 with the Brooklyn Cyclones of the Class
A-Short Season New
York-Penn League,
where he posted a .322 batting average w/5 HR and 21 RBIs in 30 G. He was selected
as an All-Star.
- Player of the Week Honors: 25-Jun-2017: St. Lucie (FSL);
23-Jul-2017: St.
Lucie (FSL);
29-Apr-2018:
Binghamton (EAS); &
23-Jun-2019: NYM
(NL)
- Attended Jesuit High School in Tampa for his 1st 2 HS years
then transferred to Henry B. Plant HS in Tampa to finish.
- Alonso’s paternal grandfather, Peter Conrad
Alonso, fled his hometown of Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War and settled
in Queens, New York.
FCR - Tom Lee, Nashville
Incorrect
guesses: Jim Gentile, Hack Wilson
WEEK'S THEME – Rookies
who broke their franchises’ single-season home run records
in the modern era.
Rookie Team HR In Old
Record In
Alexander.... DET............. 25........ 1929........ Harry Heilmann’s.... 21.... 1922
Alonso......... NYM............ 53*....... 2019........ Todd Hundley’s....... 41.... 1996
....................................................................... Carlos Beltran’s...... 41.... 2006
Averill.......... CLE............. 18........ 1929........ Tris Speaker’s......... 17.... 1923
Berger......... (ATL)........... 38........ 1930........ Rogers Hornsby’s... 21.... 1928
Bonura........ CHW............ 27........ 1934........ Carl Reynolds’........ 22.... 1930
Rizzo........... PIT............... 23........ 1938........ Arky Vaughn’s......... 19.... 1935
Trosky......... CLE............. 35........ 1934........ Earl Averill’s............ 32.... 1931 & 32
*Current team record
() indicates previous team cities and/or team
names
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Steve Klitzner, North Miami Beach
(After Berger)
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tuesday - Cleveland
Indians whose numbers have been retired
- Cleveland
Indians with over 140 RBI in a season
- Cleveland
Indians with over 200 hits in a season
- Indians
franchise records
- Players
who had sons in the major leagues who were known as Jr.
- Leaders
in career home runs for the Cleveland Indians
Wed - Most
doubles by and AL rookie
Thurs - Unofficial
pre-1947 Rookies of the Year
Friday - Players
who held their team’s single season RBI record, but has since been
broken.
Sat - Players
(from the 1930's?) who set club record in their rookie year
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